The Red Day
by Instinct Uncaged
Summary: Brother Corbulo traverses the galaxy in his search for the cure to the Blood Angel's flaw. Upon receiving a distress signal about a possible Demon encounter upon a nearby Jungle world of Omacron Primus he finds that his search must diverge once more, but not all is as it seems upon Omacron Primus and the answers for what troubles Corbulo may be where he least expects them
1. Chapter 1

**Prologue**

Darkness. The inky blackness loomed overhead, only a few stars shone dimly in the dark night sky. No moon hovered reassuringly in the sky as a comforting beacon of light to shine down upon the jungle world of Omacron Primus. The only sources of light came from the separate manufactorums scattered across the planet's dense jungle. There was a total of one-hundred and twenty four manufactorums. They were gathered into thirty one settlements to increase productivity. Each settlement was home to close to hundreds of thousands of inhabitants including the local planetary defence force garrisoned at each settlement. Huge outer walls guarded the settlements from the outside enviroment of the jungle though it had long been cleansed of any xenos presence. The walls encompassed four manufactorums, sometimes have a diamter of hundreds of kilometers. The settlements worked in sectors. Out on Omacron Primus it was a lonely existence. While it provided vital materials to the imperial in the variety of technological means to cure some ailments of battle it was very much cut off from the rest of the Imperium.

Jozor looked round the dense undergrowth that surrounded his patrol. His eyes were a little heavy with sleep and his legs felt weary from the huge distance that they had been walking. Their patrol had covered then entire perimeter of sector twenty seven, the largest sector on the whole planet spanning hundreds of kilometers. There were often several patrols out at once in order to cover the ground and they were often forced to camp out in the jungle as patrolling the sector took several days. Jozor let out a tired sigh as his boots softly thudded off of the brown earth beneath his feet. This was their fourth day on patrol. They went at a gruelling pace and had only a day or two left before their patrol would be complete. He smiled a little and his pace became easier to maintain as he thought of his rack back inside Sector twenty seven.

"Hold up here lads" called the sergeant back to them. All ten of the men let out sighs of relief, many of them sitting down onto the ground at a nearby tree, "set up camp quick" said the Sergeant turning round to face them, his grizzled features hidden by the darkness, "and without the belly-aching this time".

Jozor could only see the silhouettes of his men as they set up camp. He brushed some thick leaves aside as he laid down his las-rifle and took his pack off of his back. The men said nothing as they got out their water and sleeping gear, each exhausted from the pace the sergeant had been keeping them at all day. Jozor felt a nudge at his back and slowly turned his head. "Come on" came a familiar voice, Jozor recognised it as Aidar, "need to take a leak" the voice added before releasing him.

Jozor sighed again and picked up his las-rifle again. The cold metal felt heavier in his hands than it had before in his tired arms. He followed the silhouette of Aidar muttering under his breath. The silhouette stopped and Jozor stopped behind him. He turned away as he heard the undoing of a zip. The foliage rustled gently yet the air was still. He scanned around with his las-rifle for the source of the sound. "Hurry up you slow bastard" muttered Jozor back to his comrade.

"Give me a sec" came the irritated reply and the sound of the zip came again.

"If you were any slower the grass would've grown some" he hissed back. There was more rustling then a sharp intake of air from behind him. "What now?" groaned Jozor turning round to face the silhouette, the rustling had stopped, "come on seriously by all that is..". Then the silhouette rose, it grew taller and taller until it stood over two feet taller than him. A set of gleaming yellow eyes shone through the darkness, two huge tendrils rose up and off the creatures shoulder. Jozor wished that they'd been better equipped as he longed for a set of night-vision goggles. Something fell out of the creature's right hand and squelched wetly as it hit the ground.

Jozor let out a shout and immediately started backing up, firing his las-rifle at the creature. The slim bright orange beams lit up the surrounding jungle, they pricked the creature in the shoulder and chest but had no effect on it. The two huge tendrils dug into the ground as the creature let out a terrifying sound. Jozor took off, running towards the sounds of shouting coming from the men who had been on patrol with him. He could hear nothing from the creature behind him, his heart was pounding in his ears, legs pumping as his feet thudded off of the ground. Panting, he burst through the bushes and nearly bumped into one of the men as he skidded to a halt.

"What the hell is going on?" came the gruff voice of the sergeant, his flashlight on the end of his bolt pistol illuminating the area.

"Aidar..." panted Jozor, "Aidar...is...dead", he doubled over trying to catch his breath before quickly looking in the direction that he had come from and raising his rifle.

Then there was a faint rustling from the direction he had just came from and all guns were pointed that way. Jozor didn't realise he was holding his breath as he aimed down the sights. Icy fear had gripped him, he felt like he could barely move or breath and yet fought the impulse to run straight back the Manufactorum wall. He would never make it though, it was easily fifty clicks away and the creature would surely get him before then.

"There!" shouted one of the guardsmen.

Jozor looked, then man was aiming straight up but Jozor never got the chance to search the sky as the creature landed straight behind them. A guardsmen fell to the ground with the force that the creature landed. The sergeant's flashlight swung round wildly making the darkness around them only seem even blacker. Jozor could see the silhouette of the fallen man being ripped apart before the poor bastard could even raise his rifle. A sickening scream rang out and he fired his las-rifle striking the creature in the back. The orange pinpricks once again having no effect on the creature. The other men turned and fired as the sergeant turned his own weapons upon the creature.

In the light from the flashlight mounted on the bolt pistol the creature became truly visible. It's skin had an inky black colour to it, it's carapace was a shadowy grey. Curved grey claws extended from where finger's would have been, a lash-like tail flowed behind it and where a mouth should have been upon its face, black tentacles draped down to just below it's shoulder. They yellow eyes turned to bore into all of the men.

Two men fired their guns quickly before fleeing into the jungle at the sight of it, once again the rifles proved useless as the sergeant cursed loudly at the before firing his bolt pistol at the creature. In contrast to the las-rfiles the bolt pistol was deafening. "For the Emperor!" he shouted as one of the weapon's deadly explosive rounds punched through the creatures shoulder, purple ichor spattered a tree and the ground behind it as the light moved on and off the creature as the sergeant fought against the recoil of the powerful pistol. Jozor continued to fired as the monster of the dark let out another deafening sound of it's own, dodging the other rounds.

Hooks burst from the creature's chest reaching forward and stabbing into the sergeant's chest. The man let out a howl of agony and dropped both the chainsword and bolt pistol he was holding as he was flung towards the creature. He tried to grab onto something to slow his advance and pulled another man with him. The end result being that as soon as the two of them reached the monster they both let out shouts of pain before being silenced.

Jozor ran towards the Sergeant's fallen weapons missing with his las-rifle as the creature leapt towards yet another man, it's carapace seemed to render it all but invulnerable to las-fire. Another ripping sound from behind him told Jozor there was only three of them left. He scooped up the bolt pistol and chainsword aiming around wildly trying to find out where the creature was. A tiny beam of las-fire stabbed into the creature's bolt wound and it seemed temporarily stunned by the blow. Jozor raised the pistol, "die demon!" he shouted before pulling the trigger. Click click. Out of ammo, only the sergeant had the ammo and Jozor had no idea where his body was. "Use grenades!" he called to the men not sure where they were.

He heard someone fumbling with some catches then another sickly wet sound and a soft thud but Jozor could just see the silhouette of the creature. He knew all too well he would die here tonight, what mattered was the manner in which he would perish. The bolt pistol was gone, he only had the chainsword. He turned on the CAM in his helmet._ "With the luck of them emperor someone will see this"_ he thought to himself and let out a fierce shout. He raised the chainsword over his head with tired arms, the blade's gnashing teeth growled to life as he charged at the monster but before he could get close it batted him aside with a huge tendril. He was sent flying into a tree, losing his grip on the chainsword and hearing something crack inside of him. He lay in a heap on the ground as another tearing sound told him he was alone. He lay in a heap on the ground, gasping for air, he reached out trying to grasp for anything that could help him, tears of pain filled his eyes. The his hands found a diveted cylindrical surface. He almost gasped with relief at the grenade but then cried out as a huge hoofed foot slammed down onto his hand. He felt ever bone shatter and called out in agony. A clawed hand picked him up, slashing into his skin as he was brought face to face with the monster. The yellow eyes seemed to glare at him almost studying. Jozor couldn't breath, blood seeped from his fresh wounds as the other hand came up and he was ripped in half.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 1**

_/: Distress signal Priority Alpha six-three. Possible daemon threat detected, request immediate assistance and reinforcements from any nearby Imperium forces. Astropath contact not possible. Warp disturbed. Repeat, possible chaos incursion. :/_

Brother Corbulo's brow was furrowed in thought as he read the message several times from the bridge of the "_Red Cradle_". The crew of the battle barge was manning their stations on the bridge. The Captain of the vessel, Typhor stood at his side also reading the message. "What do you make of it?" the Captain said to Corbulo, a thoughtful yet hardened expression on his own face as he looked at his comrade.

The High Sanguinary Priest folded his arms and did not speak for a moment, when he did it was with a clear voice without a hint of indecision. "We cannot afford to ignore this distress call" he said firmly fixing his piercing blue eyes on the Captain, "whether the threat is credible or not we must answer the call, the message is already a day old". He paused before proceeding in a more thoughtful tone, "however the fact that the Astropath communication is disrupted means that the disturbance of the warp must be very great, it cuts of their immediate communication to any other Imperial forces".

Typhor nodded leaning onto the console with one arm and reading the message, "so the message could already be out of date by the time it is recieved. Omacron Primus is an already isolated world, this hinderance of communication will only cut it off".

"Correct" said Corbulo stepping back, "we cannot allow this, however it is concerning that no nearby worlds have responded to this already" he walked over to the navigation console, eyeing the screen, "there are at least three planets in the system that could provide the assistance yet none have come to their aid".

"What are your orders sir?" Typhor asked looking at the High Sanguinary Priest.

Corbulo collected his thoughts. He had been tasked with finding some form of cure to the flaw, the curse that had plagued the Blood Angels since the death of their primarch, Sanguinus. Since the primarch's death the red thirst had latched onto the soul of every Blood Angel in the chapter. No one was immune though some had better resistance to it than others. It urged every battle-brother towards the call for blood. As if this was not enough the flaw was increasingly degenerative, often resulting in proud warriors succumbing to the black rage. This mindless fury often claimed a battle brother on the eve of a battle. The warrior would appear unfocussed with glazed eyes, these are the opening symptoms, if not found the full power of the rage would be unleashed. The brother's mind would become clouded, visions would blur with reality of Sanguinus' last battle, perhaps they would even be the primarch in his final battle. Driven mad by these visions the space marine would leap into combat unable to tell friend from foe, striking any who approached yet ignoring wounds that would normally put down a normal space marine. The black rage would continue until the battle-brother was killed.

This was the curse, the flaw that ailed the Blood Angels. It was threatening to eventually bring the chapter to extinction and Corbulo knew this well, as did the chapter master Commander Dante, that's why he had commissioned Brother Corbulo to find a cure, giving him strike force to accomplish what he would need. Corbulo accepted this task, knowing how grave the circumstances were. However when emergencies such as this arose Corbulo was forced to digress. "Transmit this message back to the planet", the communcations officer began typing, "Message received. Adeptus Astartes responding, Blood Angels strike force "_Sanguinatus_" inbound with maximum speed to the planet. End message". He exhaled for a moment.

"Should we forward the transmission sir?" asked the communications officer

"Negative" said Corbulo firmly, "we will handle the situation. Prepare to transfer to the warp".

"Sir the message said that transition would be difficult at best and that Astropath's will struggle" said Typhor warily.

The High priest nodded, "yes but we cannot afford to wait, we must go with all available speed or else this infestation may take hold upon another of the emperor's worlds". With luck, the transition would not rip the ship apart. "Send the message and transfer in three...two...one and transition" he said.

There was a loud rumbling as the ship's engines and warp drives powered up. Then the space in front of the bold red battle barge opened up. A great tear split the space and inside of it were mystically swirling purple energies. The stuff of chaos. The "_Red Cradle_'s" warp shields were up so that the chaotic energies could not seep inside of the ship. Arcs of lightning struck out at the ship, latching onto it and pulling the vessel into the rip. The ship was launched into the tear, propelled by the lighting and the rip closed behind it.

Shozar ducked down underneath a swinging arm, bringing his sword up in a wide arc from his body and landing a solid blow. There was a sudden rumbling and he stopped his training in the cage for a moment. Every Astartes onboard the battle barge could feel that it had just transitioned into the warp. Every space marine chapter had librarians, psychicly inclined battle brothers who were chosen to harness those powers and face the perils of the warp. The Blood Angels chapter as a whole was more touched with these abilities than many other chapters. Some claimed that this was why the flaw held such a grip over each marine, others claimed it was because Sanguinus himself held similar powers. Whatever the reason, warp travel usually did not affect the Blood Angels, nor any space marine when the warp shields were fully functional.

Another space marine entered the training room. Shozar turned to look at the newcomer and upon recognising him broke out in a grin. He strode out of the training cage towards Marthanus, the sergeant of his assault squad. Marthanus stood by the weapons rack before picking up a blade of his like, checking it for balance by positioning it on his finger. "I see you have awoken from you slumber" said Shozar running a hand through his lengthening dark blonde hair to wipe any sweat away, "I was growing concerned" he added jokingly.

Marthanus chuckled before grabbing the sword and giving it a few practice swings, "were it only so" he said with a downward stroke before turning to his battle-brother, "I was summoned by the High Sanguinary Priest, as were all the sergeants. Come" the sergeant motioned to the sparring ring. Shozar followed him into the ring, curious to know more. Both space marines were wearing simple training tunics, their armour saved for true battle. "Ready" said the sergeant taking up a stance.

Sweat was already on Shozar's skin from his training he had been doing before Marthanus had arrived but he did not protest. He and Shozar always had a fierce rivalry of swordsmanship, both unmatched by anyone in the strike force. Though it never created any emnity between the two, to each of them it was a challenge, a true test so that one may finally best the other. Marthanus' decades of further expirience often allowing him to beat Shozar.

Shozar raised his sword, "what was the..." but Marthanus lunged at him with a stabbing thrust. Shozar jumped back to avoid the strike but the Sergeant continued his attacks with gusto. Shozar parried the blows as best he could, his astartes limits being tested by both the fatigue from the previous training and the skills of his attacker. The blades rang out shrilly in quick succession as Shozar took Marthanus' attacks and blocked them faster than any normal man could, yet Marthanus continued to keep him under pressure. They moved quickly around the sparring cage, each looking for the gap, the chink in the armour, the one weakness that would grant them victory, all the while trading blows at incredible speed. But space marines are not so easily beaten, even by each other. They have decades, even centuries to perfect the craft of war, honing their skills to be as keen as the edge of the very blades they would use in combat.

For ten minutes they traded blows at a blistering speed that few others could match. Shozar's arms ached but he refused to show any signs of weakness. He and Marthanus had battled many times and he had picked up on many of his Sergeant's tactics. Their blades met again, ringing out shrilly as sparks flew from their edges and Shozar saw his chance to press an attack. He feinted with an uppercut and Marthanus moved to parry as Shozar changed his grip and knocked the sergeant's sword away from the guard position it had been in and lashed out with a front kick, knocking the sergeant down onto the floor. Shozar stood over Marthanus, the tip of his blade pointed at the sergeant's throat. "Yield" he said firmly, panting a little.

"You overestimate yourself Shozar" said the sergeant showing him a bare fanged grin before moving around the blade faster than Shozar would have thought possible. He tried to react and pull the sword across but Marthanus had already grabbed his sword arm by the wrist. He then slammed the pommel of his sword into Shozar's face. Blinded for a moment when his vision darkened Shozar felt a knee slam into his stomach and bunched up his abdomen to absorb the blow but already felt his sword leave his grip. He blinked back the pain and saw his sergeant standing over him with both swords pointed at him. "You never yield when you yet hold your weapon" the sergeant said eyes glinting for a moment with the thrill of battle, holding both swords in one hand and offering the free one to his battle-brother.

"How do you move with such speed?" said Shozar shaking his head for a moment to get rid of the last remnants of pain. Even by astartes standards such speed in combat was almost unheard of, it was true mastery.

"With much practice" said Marthanus smiling at him as he pulled Shozar up, "and many stubborn foes". Shozar grinned back at him as the two got to the weapons rack. Shozar was still inquisitive, they had duelled for no more than fifteen minutes and though it had been intense the question of the purpose of the meeting had not left Shozar's mind. Marthanus seemed to read his mind about this as he replaced the weapons because he then said, "it was an alert meeting of all the sergeants. Corbulo says we must divert our course".

Shozar folded his arms and clenched his fists underneath them. Corbulo of all people knew how important this crusade to find the cure was, he knew the chapter may verge on the brink extinction if it was not completed. "Why?" asked Shozar inquisitively.

"We have received a distress signal from a world called Omacron Primus" Marthanus said turning back to him, "the message read that there was an unknown threat, possibly daemons or with chaos origins on the planet".

"So we as yet have no signs that the threat is in fact credible then" said Shozar trying to keep an edge out of his voice.

Marthanus sighed and Shozar could tell that his sergeant was exasperated about the matter too, "no we do not. But we are adeptus astartes and we must do as ordered. The message also said that the warp had recently become volatile in the region and not to attempt any astropathic message. These are why Corbulo seems to think the threat is credible. The meeting was to order all squads to mobilise in two hours. We should exiting the warp soon and then we shall be moving down to the planet".

Shozar nodded in agreement, "it'll be Garga IV all over again if it is in fact demons" his jaw hardening a little. Marthanus nodded and the two space marines made their way from the training room.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 2**

Company Commander Simonem looked up at the dark night sky from the a balcony just outside the manufactorum, his hands held behind his back. If there were any stars in the sky he couldn't see them because of the light coming from the manufactorum secundus. Searchlights had been placed at multiple locations atop the wall to scan the forest in the dark night. The sector itself had to stay lit as an emergency precaution. Ever since that first patrol hadn't returned from it's posting at the due date outside of manufactorum primus other patrol had also disappeared, Simonem had immediately relocated himself to manufactorum secundus. It was the second largest manufactorum on the planet and boasted a fierce arsenal of weaponry. Pirates attempted raids on Omacron primus and the defences were in place to push them out. Fearsome quad cannons were mounted on the walls of all the sectors with twenty five feet of one another. Interceptor class lascannons were aimed up at the sky atop bastions to shoot down enemies in the sky as well as a large turbolaser in each sector. Then there was the full regiment of imperial guardsmen stationed on the planet. The Omacron forty third guarded manufactorum secundus. Secundus also had ten valkyries as primus was the main hub for air traffic. Tanks could often be seen rolling on patrol inside of the walls as well, deployment outside merely seemed like a waste of fuel.

He smiled as he considered their defences. being the largest manufactorums on the planet manufactorum primus and secundus also had an extra something. Upon purging the planet of xenos the war council at the time had decided that two warhound titans be commissioned to watch over the planet. In all the time that Simonem had been in charge they had been well cared for. The two wolf class warhound titans were a fierce indeed with the one at manufactorum primus, "_Blazing Fury"_ being armed with and inferno gun and a turbo-laser destructor, while the one at manufactorum secundus was armed with a plasma blastgun and a vulcan mega-bolter. As for why he chose secundus over primus, he felt safer with less space to have to worry about.

Simonem had been drawn out of his noble family in the Ultima segmentum to attend the war academy. There he had learned tactics in which to use his army and how he himself should fight. He had passed most of his tests with flying colours. He struggled however to understand xenos. Humanoid ones such as the Eldar he could handle and yes he could kill them. But he never struggled with chaos forces, his first assignment had been on a repentence pilgrimage just several hundred kilometers off from the far rim of the eye of terror. There he had shown his mettle, but a little self preservation in this case didn't hurt and it had been a very long time since that day. Why should he have to expend his forces when a very capable and better fighting force would soon arrive. He had breathed a sigh of relief at the mention that space marines would be arriving soon to aid them. After all, perhaps the astartes could help them understand what had happened to the astropath. They had been about to send off a message when the astropath was filled with uncontrollable dread, babbling nonsense in an alien tongue that no one had understood. Then the poor cretin's mind had simply broke, the babbling continued as it tried rip at it's on skull with bloody fingernails. Simonem had put down the astropath himself rather than risk unleashing the malice of an astropath controlled by the warp on his world.

Then there was a huge flash of purple light up in the sky and Simonem immediately thought the worst. The chaos had arrived to take his world. He gritted his teeth and clenched his fists, they would have to fight very hard to claim it from him.

He turned to go back inside and order battle positions when a member of his command squad walked out to him. "Sir" the man said snapping off a rigid salute, "they're here. The space marines have arrived".

The space above Omacron primus shattered and tore open. From the depths of the swirling purple energies with emerged a bold red space marine battle barge. Huge white arcs of lightning shattered and gave way as the "_Red Cradle_" broke free of the warp and drifted back into normal space. Then the rip in space closed behind them.

"Sir Omacron primus two hundred kilometres and closing" the navigations officer said looking up from his console at Captain Typhor.

"Proceed to geostationary orbit" Typhor said turning. That transition had almost killed their astropath. Had the thing been any weaker it wouldn't have lasted the journey. The strike force would be getting ready to disembark soon and head down to the planet. They would use the two stormravens the "_Fury of Baal_" and the "_Sanguine Spear_" to bring down the dreadnought Brother Daveth, who would be latched underneath one of the craft using it's magna grapples as well as the High Sanguinary Priest himself and his Chaplain, the veterans and the devastator squad. The two remaining thunderhawk gunships would bring the razorback transport, "_Red Hail_", the assault squad, and two tactical squads. This was the composition of the strike force. The thunderhawks would return to battle barge and await further instruction. "Open the hangar doors" commanded Typhor.

There was a long metallic grinding sound as the huge hanger bay doors opened up and four craft flew out. The smaller of the two, the stormravens "_Fury of Baal_" and "_Sanguine Spear_" flew ahead of the two larger thunderbirds, their small bodies making them lighter, faster and more manuverable though with less armoury they could still deal destructive firepower. The stormravens soared down to the planet surface. Corbulo unstrapped himself from his seat and strode forwards to the cockpit, putting a gauntleted hand against the co-pilot's seat for support. "We will be landing at manufactorum secundus in a few minutes sir" said the pilot as water began to fleck the glass showing that they were entering the atmosphere. Corbulo nodded and returned to his seat. The stormravens swooped in low over manufactorum secundus and made a second pass before landing. The thunderhawks arrived a few moments later. The four craft landed on the seperate pads of manufactorum secundus, Brother Daveth's Magna grapples detatched from the bottom of the "_Sanguine Spear_", the cable whining as it slowly retracted.

At each pad a squad of Imperial guardsmen awaited the arrival of the space marines. The doors hissed at the front of the flyers and yawned open. Brother Corbulo stepped forwards and emerged into the light of the dawn on Omacron primus. The skies were a blazing orange with streaks of bloody red. Ahead of him stood an Imperial guardsmen command squad, their commander at the fore. The man stepped forwards towards the towering form of the fully clad High Sanguinary Priest, dipping his head as a gesture of respect, "my lord, welcome to Omacron primus. This is manufactorum secundus. I am Company Commander Simonem".

Corbulo watched the man before speaking in a brisk tone, "you may dispense with the formalities commander, my strike force is here to answer your call for aid as you requested. I am brother Corbulo". Corbulo looked around at the manufactorum. It did seem a very defensible position but there appeared to be no traces of any daemons. "Commander let us go inside where we may discuss the matter at length" Corbulo said quickly before addressing the strike force, "Blood Angels! Deploy around the main gate, defensive pattern omega".

"Yes...yes my lord" Simonem said hastily. It was very daunting speaking to a space marine clad in full power armour, even more so a commander of several more men. He turned and directed the space marine into the briefing room of the command bunker with was in fact connected to a bastion within the base.

The Blood Angels moved to their positions, the two tactical squads took up positions on either side of the gate at the wall along with the sternguard veterans while the desvastators took up position on the section of the wall that spread up and over the gate. They then spread out keeping several feet in between each battle-brother so that they could defend the maximum area without being spread too thin. The imperial guardsmen stationed across the wall looked up in awe at the bold, powerful red armoured giants that were joining them on the wall. The towering dreadnought sarcophagi stomped to the position just behind the gate, the wall being too narrow to allow for Brother Daveth's huge form. The razorback transport "_Red Hail_" took up a standby position near the gate in case it would be need. Marthanus assault squad took up a position next to Brother Daveth as the stormravens sat stationary on the landing pad along with the base's own valkyries. With a roaring and whine of engines the thunderhawk gunships lifted off, they hovered for a moment blowing terrential wind in all directions around them before with a thunderous roar they soared off into the sky back up to the "_Red Cradle_" where they would remain until needed.

Corbulo and the black armoured chaplain Zekaiel followed Simonem into the command bunker. Once inside the briefing room they were present with a rectangular table in the centre of the room with a glass-like finish on the top surface but otherwise looked liked a metal table, this was the battle display. A large computer was in the wall with a massive screen, the command squad took up positions at the windows of the bunkers. The slits of the bunkers folded down.

Sinonem then stood behind the battle display as the space marines stood opposite him. He stared grimly down at the display before forcing himself to look up into the red armoured space marine's eyes. "Here is our current situation" he said activating the display, it took all of his willpower not to looks away from the piercing blue eyes of the blonde haired giant. A hologram of the planet came up, red circles appeared marking out the settelments and sectors. "Our first patrol went missing here" he raised a hand and touched the sector of manufactorum primus, a small black x appeared on the blue hologram, "we found no traces of them and as we sent out search parties we lost further contact with them too".

Corbulo folded his armoured arms over his chest, "so this would be when you sent out then distress signal" said Corbulo watching as x's appeared at an alarming rate displaying the positions where other following patrols went missing all over the planet.

Simonem nodded still looking grave, "we attempted to send an astropathic message but the astropath simply broke down, and went absolutely mad. We killed it lest it threaten this world with the perils of the warp".

"A wise move" said Zekaiel nodding.

"It started babbling but we recorded the following" said Simonem pressing a button on the side of the table.

Static blared angrily through the speaker then a cackling voice echoed through the command bunker, "Et venis, sentire possum eis clawing, scalpendi capite in May. A shadow has passed through the warp, endless shadow, dark entity...I...I see".

Corbulo's eyes widened and he clenched his jaw at the mention of a shadow in the warp. "Commander this is no dae.." but the voice started speaking and just confirmed what the High Sanguinary Priest was about to say.

"The devourer of worlds has come!".

"Sir!" a voice blared through the space marine vox channel. Corbulo immediately recognised it as Marthanus, "Tyranids! There's a hive fleet over Omacron primus!"


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 3**

"Sir multiple targets off the port side, three hundred twenty eight kilometres and closing".

Typhor stared, with gritted teeth, at the screen showing the advanced of a huge, shadowy cloud moving through the black of space. But the cloud was not a cloud, "magnify!" he called quickly and the image zoomed. The cloud was in fact millions of hive ships advancing towards the planet, a fleet full of completely organic ships capable of withstanding the cold vacuum of space armed with claws, teeth and a hazardous variety of weapons which fired either acid or voracious bugs at enemy ships. Typhor knew this, he had been there for the scouring of the Ultramar system. It had cost many lives but those that remained from those days were armed with new tyranid hunting doctrines which could change the course of some battles with the Great Devourer.

"Bring the ship to port and load up the main guns" Typhor ordered curtly, his fist clenched and muscles tensed. The ship turned to face the enemies, the hive fleet seemed almost one entity as it approached, such was the number of ships in such a fleet. The crimson prow of the "_Red Cradle_" faced defiantly at the innumerable hive ships. "Communications!" Typhor said quickly as he began thinking, "send this message now and I don't care if the astropath dies forward it in all directions with as much speed as we can summon. Adeptus Astartes message priority Terra. Blood Angels strike force Sanguinatus requesting aid. New Tyranid hive fleet has appeared at Omacron Primus. Requesting immediate assistance, we will hold as long as we can. End message".

"Sir hive fleet one hundred and fifty kilometre and closing".

"Fire all weapons!" bellowed Typhor loudly, as if sheer volume of his voice would give their projectiles extra power. Lance turrets reached out slashing across the black space between the two adversaries hitting several of the hive ships, huge torpedoes loaded with high calibre magma warheads glided across the abyss detonating in the middle of clusters of ships with a brief but brilliant flash of light and fire as they were fired from the bombardment cannons. Detonations and lances of energy ripped apart several hive ships the fleshy remains of former bio-ships floated through space.

Yet the hive fleet's advance was not slowed. For every ship that was destroyed by the battle barge's weapons another five swarmed around the now empty space to take its place. They adapted, swarmed out and around the "_Red Cradle_", others threw themselves in the line of fire so more craft could swarm through the new space. They drew closer and closer, closing the distance with a ferocity that Tyranids were infamously known for. Tusked hive ships rammed into the side of the battle barge, their sharp tusks penetrating through the hull of the crimson ship. Hundreds of genestealers scurried through the newly made airlock between the two ships, running rampant through the proud vessel slaughtering crew member. More bio-ships latched onto the "_Red Cradle_" and one finally struck the engine core. The ships exploded with all of the force it ordnance and overloaded fuel cores.

Shozar looked up into the as a huge flash of light filled the sky. His mind dove stretched out into a million possibilities as to what the cause was, but as he saw the huge black cloud in the sky the was wholly comprised of tyranid bio-ships he knew with a sinking feeling in his soul, that he knew the cause.

"The "_Red Cradle_"" Marthanus said solemnly looking up at the blackness, "she is no more".

"What about Typhor?" asked Petriarch

"I've heard nothing across the sergeant's channel to suggest the grim inevitable truth" Marthanus said, the grim tone still holding his gaze up to the sky. All the space marines on the ground could not help but feel a sense of loss. The immense battle barge had been their home for many years on their crusade to find the cure, and now their fortress of solitude, the constant in their quest while battle-brothers fell at either side of them was gone. Eradicated by a foe whose numbers were not even phased by such a valiant effort.

"Unworthy of such a fate" murmured Aramath, "it deserved better".

"We need only be ready when it's our turn" said Shozar darkly, "and let us hope that we shall be remembered by those that we save". Marthanus nodded in agreement putting a hand on Shozar's shoulder. Shozar turned his head and nodded his helmet covered head in acknowledgment of the gesture. "And here we go" he muttered.

The dark spread further and further around in the sky, millions of bio-ships in orbit around the planet. Shozar knew what came next, the spore. Red and orange streaks began to fill the skies as the bio-ships already stationed in orbit disgorged thousands, even millions of mycetic spores down to the planet.

"Sir spores falling from the skies!" one of the command squad said.

Simonem looked at the hologram of the planet, "send a message planet wide that all guardsmen on the planet are to man their posts at all manufactorum defences". The officer nodded and began typing as the company commander turned to the space marines, "my lords it seems your assistance is needed now more than ever".

"And we shall answer your call" said the Chaplain, Zekaiel, "though we do not have the numbers to maintain a full planetary defence".

Corbulo nodded. He had seen this before, in one of his many visions. Red armoured space marines on a jungle planet. He did not know the enemy, nor that it would be this world but now he was certain. He was now also certain that it would be at manufacotrum secundus that the Blood Angels would stay and fight at. He did not know the outcome of this day, but it looked grim.

Simonem looked back to the hologram and nodded, contact was being lost with several sectors already, the speed and sheer numbers of the hive fleet overpowering the defenders. "We will be the last to fall. We, and primus" he said with finality.

"Why primus?" said Corbulo studying the hologram as signals disappeared.

"It is larger and is guarded by the only other warhound titan on the planet" explained Simonem in a matter of fact tone, "however its size is also one of its weaknesses as it only has the same manpower as we do". His brow furrowed as he looked at the incoming data, "we had best be ready, several thousand spores inbound to our position, defences already retaliating".

The spores fell from the sky streaking the air with fire as they entered the atmosphere. Bright lines of blue energy filled the air as the lascannons atop the bastions opened fire attempting to destroy any pods that were bound for the inside of manufactorum secundus' walls. The huge wall of the turbolaser lit up the sky hitting and destroying several pods at once yet more and more appeared. The inexorable numbers of the pods proving difficult for even the skilled gunners of Omacron Primus to take out all threats.

Several pods slammed into the ground just outside of the command bunker, releasing their deadly payload. Tyranid warriors burst from the pods, orange bursts of lasfire darting their sides and one went down by sheer volume of fire. "Commander the time for talk is over" said Corbulo firmly drawing his chainsword, Zekaiel wielding his crozius arcaneum and a bolt pistol. "Now is the time for war". The High Sanguinary Priest charged out of the command bunker, the snarling chainsword revved hungrily as Corbulo drew closer to the warriors, the Chaplain following in his wake. The warriors roared and lunged at the red power armour space marine. Corbulo brought his chainsword round in a swift arc, the gnashing chainsword teeth find purchase in the chest of one of the warriors. It shrieked with agony and purple ichor spurted viscously from its chest onto Corbulo's armour. Behind him the Chaplain smashed aside a warrior with the glowing head of the crozius arcaneum reciting the litanies of fury, the powerful weapon's hit making sure that the warrior never got back up.

"Do not let them breach the gate brothers!" shouted Marthanus as more pods slammed down around the space marines. The ancient sarcophagus of brother Daveth turned, his frag cannon firing with deafening booms, each strike reducing a newly dropped tyranid creature to a cloud of smoke and blood. Another pod dropped down near the Dreadnought but the ancient warrior grasped the newly dropped Ravener in its hand and slammed the writhing serpent down into the ground with his blood gauntlet, crushing the creature with the blow.

A gaunt charged at Shozar, it's high pitched snarled filling the air along with the others, scything talons poised to strike. He fired his bolt pistol at it, the explosive round flew true and blew a fist sized hole in the gaunt's head. He grimaced and whirled round in time to bring the growling teeth of his chainsword down into the neck of another gaunt, the purple blood spattered onto the ground and his crimson armour. The teeth of the chainsword screeched as it went through bone and the gaunt's head fell to the ground. He felt and heard talons rake the side of his armour but the ceramite held true and the talons merely scratched the proud armour. He slammed a gauntleted fist into the creature's head, with a sickening crunch he knew he'd caved it's skull in.

Marthanus cleaved several gaunts aside with his gently humming power sword in a matter of seconds. Blue energy swirled around the weapon's edges allowing it to cut through most enemy's armour. Atop the walls the roar of bolter fire drowned out the screeches of the enemy. The devastator squad unleashing a ferocious of heavy bolter fire cutting down huge swathes of enemies. The segeant Dermetus charged his plasma cannon before unleashing the deadly volley, the blue ball of energy flew out blasting aside several enemies at once. Bright streaks of lascannons took down more powerful enemies that approached. Overhead Gargoyles shrieked and dove firing voracious beetles down onto the defenders. The tactical marines fired their bolters up at the sky. Fire erupted from the end of the flamer and the gargoyles dropped, burnt to cinders by the heat. Quad cannons on the wall fired almost continuously into the tide of enemies and the guardsmen on the wall contributed their fire. Inside the walls, Leman Russ and Chimera transports rolled around, lending fire support where needed or transporting reinforcements around the manufactorum. With a roaring of engines and jets of fire the aircraft took off, the two stormravens and the ten valkyrie transports took to the sky, weaving through clouds of gaunts, heavy bolters, multi-melta guns and lascannons firing into the sky bound swarm.

The battle raged on for a solid hour, neither side showing quarter. Hundreds of guardsmen fell on the walls, consumed by the black beetles fired from the tyranid's bio-weapons or screaming as toxic venom melted through their skin and bone. Gargoyles fell from the sky in droves, gaunt bodies piled almost the height of the wall. Yet no larger creatures showed themselves. Only smaller lesser creatures in there thousands. In total two battle brothers fell. One was a veteran carried by the gargoyles high into the sky then dropped into the massive swarm outside the wall. Another one an assault marine just fell under the sheer amount of enemies he was engaged in close combat with. Two valkyries were brought down when gargoyles threw themselves into the flyer's engines. The Blood Angels fought with a ruthless ferocity matching their adversaries as the Red Thirst began to claw at each space marine's soul, that lust for battle driving them harder than some space marines could ever go.

Then it merely stopped The swarm ceased, the remaining enemies pulled back. Corbulo summoned all of the sergeants to the command bunker as his war council. Brother Daveth was unable to attend due to the bulk of his sarcophagus frame.

"The Tyranids appear to have withdrawn" said the Chaplain Zekaiel in a clear voice, breaking the silence once the members of the meeting had assembled.

"It is troubling" Corbulo murmured in a dark thoughtful tone, his brows knitted together.

Brother Pycar, the sergeant in charge of the strike force's veterans nodded, "the tyranids do not simply retreat. They are driven by an insatiable hunger that compels them to feed. They can lie dormant within planets crusts for decades and even adopt guerrilla style tactics if it prolongs the existence of the hive. But they never, ever run in fear" he said with a hard voice.

Pycar had been one of the battle brothers sent to Macragge by the Blood Angels chapter master Dante to aid in scouring the planet's surface of any remaining Tyranids in Behemoth's wake. The Ultramarines had suffered grievous losses and Calgar had gladly accepted Dante's assistance but it cost the Blood Angels many space marines. But those that returned where gifted with the knowledge of Tyranid hunting doctrines and a greater knowledge of how the Xenos actually worked than most battle brothers would.

Simonem however shook his head, surrounded by his advisors, command squad and several sergeants of his own, "nonsense" he said, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips, "can you not see that we have driven the beasts back, they fled like cowards".

"You would do well to heed Pycar's words" said Marthanus said in a warning tone, his helmet held under his arm "the Tyranids know nothing of even the concept of fear".

"If that is Sergeant" said Simonem with a cool edge to his voice, as he leaned over the table between them looking the assault marine in the eye "then where are they? They had ceased their attacks and here we remain, unscathed for the most part".

"These are no mindless xenos we are fighting" Corbulo said finally with a grim tone to his voice, his arms folded over his chest, "they are no mindless rabble in disarray like the orks whose leaders we need merely slay to quell a threat. Nor are they the cunning eldar who use stealth to secure their goals. Yet neither are they as technological as the Tau. No, the Tyranids are an altogether more deadly adversary. They are like many races, they may use an overwhelming swarm like the one we have just weathered. Yet they are adaptable, next they may send a tide of gargantuan creatures to breach the wall, we may find lesser creatures better equipped to kill us or there may be something altogether more sinister at work behind the malevolent hive mind".

Simonem's cool composure seemed to falter for a moment as he heard the high Sanguinary Priest speak of the Tyranids. Thoughts raced through his head but he recovered his facade and looked at the space marine. "We have survived their last assault and we shall weather any fur..".

Static blared through the vox channel connected to the battle room. The whole room went silent as they listened until, after a few moments a voice sound faintly through the static, marred by the poor quality of the transmission, "this is Valkyries three two and three three does anyone copy?"

Simonem leaned onto the table and pressed a vividly glowing green button which opened their vox channel, he spoke in a clear authoritative tone "this is Company Commander Simonem of the Omacron forty third stationed at manufactorum seccundus, to whom do I speak?"

"Sir, this is Lieutenant Amacar. I was stationed with a stormtrooper squad at manufactorum primus" the man spoke in a hurried and clearly anxious tone seeming a little breathless, "as soon as we lost the titan "_Blazing Fury_" was lost the Commissar ordered a full retreat to manufactorum seccundus. All the valkyries lifted off but only our two actually got out before they fired something at us. We crashed here".

As Amacar spoke Simonem gestured to the communications officer curtly to trace the transmission. Sure enough, as soon as the Lieutenant had stopped speaking a red beacon flashed onto the holo-display indicating the position of the two crashed valkyries, "yes Lieutenant we have your position now, we shall dispatch a rescue team, hold your position until they arrive".

There was a short pause, during which only static sounded before the voice came back, "roger that sir, we'll be here".

Simonem turned the COM channel off and it was Corbulo's turn to speak, "Commander I feel that this course of action is unwise" he said in a matter of fact tone. He had not spoken during the transmission because to do so would undermine a high ranking officer and perhaps damage the men's faith in their commander.

"So it's a trap" said Dermetus with a thoughtful tone as he looked at the strike force's commander.

"The only reason they have been left alive is to create a bait to draw us from behind these walls" explained Pycar, the veteran's helm also turned to look at his commander, "and in doing so weaken the force that is behind these walls". Corbulo nodded in agreement with this.

"I will not leave these men to die at the hands of those monstrosities that we just fought off" said Simonem heatedly, "those are my men, the Emperor's men".

"Your compassion for your men is admirable" said Zekaiel, the blue light of the hologram reflecting off of his skull mask as it turned to the Company Commander, "but as many thousands do every day, the Emperor's men die in due time".

The Commander did well to hold his gaze with the Chaplain's death mask, a feat that even a space marine may struggle to perform, "I will not abandon them to such a fate" he said through gritted teeth.

"Then you would see it become ours as well" said Nialus from the back of the room and several heads turned. The tactical Sergeant spoke very rarely when in briefings. He carried a remarkably calm demeanour for a Blood Angel even within the heat of battle.

"I will hear no more of this" said Sinomen stepping back up off of the table. The consensus of the adeptus astartes was unnerving him far more than he would care to show but he kept his fearful emotions in check, "I will be assembling a rescue team immediately" he strode to the door with quick strides, his command squad followed him.

"Then the Blood Angels shall be at your side" came Corbulo's voice.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 4**

The bright red razorback rumbled across the brownish green plateau accompanied by three chimeras and a Leman Russ battle tank. The treads of the vehicles gouged huge marks into the soft earth beneath them as they kept a tight formation with the rhino at the head. Inside the razorback was Brother Pycar and his veteran's squad. The veteran's knowledge of tyranid fighting was thought to be most useful here. Inside of one of the Chimeras was Marthanus and the assault squad. Inside the other was a squad of stormtroopers outfitted with the prototype hot-shot lasguns and flamers to better combat the swarm. The last Chimera was empty to make room for the rescued survivors. Corbulo and the rest of the strike force had stayed to guard the sector, Corbulo also was going through the manufactorum's prototypes in order to find equipment to better the guardsmen's chances of survival.

Shozar looked around the inside of the Chimera. Even with only five space marines inside it was cramped, the transport being made for guardsmen rather than the hugely bulky power armoured astartes. "I will never complain of the hail's room again" said Aranor sounding slightly disgruntled. A chuckle went around the transport.

The sky was still dark though the spores had long since stopped falling. The hive fleet had surrounded the planet and was slowly draining the biomass from the dying world. It did not care about how long it took as long as it got to feed, it did not wish to expend any more biomass than it had to. Already in the distance great capillary towers could be seen rising out of the ground like outstretched fingers reaching towards a grim and polluted sky, all the better to transport the newly acquired biomass back to the hive fleet.

The chimera slowly ground to a halt, the engines still rumbling as the vehicle went to a stationary position. The rear door yawned slowly open and the assault marines disembarked. Shozar frowned underneath his helmet, they could not have arrived yet at the rescue point, it had not nearly been long enough. As he stepped down the ramp he pulled himself up onto the top of the transport, the metal groaned in protest under his weight but he stood atop the vehicle and saw why they had stopped prematurely.

A huge thick cloud of yellow smog covered the area in front of them, blanketing all from view. Even Shozar's augmented astartes eyes could not see all the way through the dense fog. He looked down at Marthanus, unsure of what this new threat was but ever wary of it. The sergeant's helm merely stared straight into the fog, not looking away. "What is it?" Shozar heard one of the guardsmen say. He looked down at the veterans who were also standing outside of their vehicles and looking into the yellow haze. Having spent years of service with these astartes on Corbulo's mission Shozar could notice and read a lot of the astartes without actually having to see their faces. He could see the subtle differences such as hands being held closely or gripped tightened around bolters, clenched fists or even the stance that one of his battle brothers took could give away things about their current state of mind. Pycar was unreadable, he didn't know what it was. This was something new that he had not seen when on Macragge.

"We move on foot from here" came the veteran's voice from behind his breather grille as he began walked forward drawing his bolter and chambering a round. The veteran's around him followed suit without question. "The transports shall wait here until we return" he added briskly to the "_Red Hail_". The driver inside nodded.

Shozar dropped down off of the Chimera, the transport giving a groan of relief as he landed on the ground. Marthanus followed the veterans squad with his weapons drawn, his power sword and plasma pistol giving off low humming sounds as they were activated. "What do you think it is?" said Shozar under his breath to Marthanus as he chambered a round in his bolt pistol. He could not help but ask, he was inquisitive of all threats that he faced. To know your enemy, is to find more ways to defeat them.

"I do not know" said Marthanus warily. The veteran had suddenly taken on a darker demeanour, one that itched for battle, "but whatever it is we are Blood Angels, and we shall face whatever horrors lie within". With that, he stepped into the yellow fog.

Inside the command bunker back at manufactorum secundus images flashed onto the screen with images of various prototypes of weapons and other items that the base's guardsmen could be outfitted with. Corbulo and Simonem stood examining the screen as the images continued to cycle. The High Sanguinary priest's noble countenance was like that of his primarch's except that it bore a more stoic expression with his arms folded across his broad chest while the Company Commander's was alert. They did not speak except to point out items of interest.

Corbulo harboured no ill feeling towards Simonem, he understood the bonds of brotherhood that the Company Commander felt towards his men, as did all space marines. The Blood Angels in particular knew this bond well because not only were they battle brothers, but they were all joined by blood, each member of the chapter having a small iota of their primogenitor's blood inside of them through the insanguination process that transformed the candidates from men, in the towering forms of death incarnate that would storm across a thousand different battlefields throughout the galaxy as they sought to drive back the enemies of man. This united the Blood Angels in ways that some of the other space marine chapters could not match. The bond between blood was thick.

Zekaiel was out among the other space marines and guardsmen, the sergeants had returned to their respective squads. They were spread thinly across the walls now, the rescue force had drained some of the need firepower from the walls, not to mention the loss of the only assault squad. Such a squad could turn the tide of a battle when employed at the correct moment. "Cycle back".

The Company Commander turned and looked at the High Sanguinary Priest. Clad in his white armour with red trim made the space marine look remarkably pure when looking upon him. The features of his face were noble but at this point in time his brow was furrowed, his gaze alert upon the screen. "Cycle back now!" he said, his voice rising in volume a little and bearing a more commanding tone than he had used since he had arrived. Simonem almost flinched at the tone and power behind the voice and nodded to the servitor. It cycled back to images before Corbulo said, "stop" with slight urgency.

Upon the screen was the symbol for the medicae in cherry red with a sky blue background behind it. Down below the image were two words in black bold, Remedium Sanguinus. Below it was several lines of text that Simonem could not read because it was so small. "Open the datum" said Corbulo curtly as he stared at the screen. The servitor opened the file and began vocalising the information.

"The Remedium Sanguinus was originally created to help astropaths cope with the temptation of being lose into the empyrean" it said with a dull mechanical voice, "initial tests proved a failure but then it was discovered that the Remedium Sanguinus held another hidden trait. It could banish any ailment that it came into contact with. Trials against most ailments have proven highly successful. In essence what we now possess is an unlimited cure".

It seemed disastrous from the beginning. There was a terrible coughing, gurgling sound coming from behind where the space marines had just entered the sickly yellow vapour. Shozar whirled round as shots were fired from the stormtroopers weapons. A stream of bright orange fire issued from a flamer and streaks of las-fire shot off in different directions. He could see the stormtroopers falling to the ground, their weapons fell to the side as their bodies spasmed violently. "The vapour is toxic!" he called urgently. The adeptus astartes' armour was sealed air tight and had respirators to supply them with oxygen, thankfully no battle brother had been so zealous as to forgo wearing his helmet. The stormtroopers however had not been equipped with gas masks. The gargling sounds continued, the infected men frothing in the mouths, coughing up a mixture of sickly yellow infected fluids along with dark crimson of blood.

As Shozar stared down at the dying man through the lenses in his helmet, he could not help but pity the poor soul. The man had more than likely served the imperium as well as any other guardsmen and yet it was him who would die here, drowning in his infected fluids, a guttural retching mess on the ground. He raised his bolt pistol towards the man who coughed up more fluids but seemed to give him a jerk of the head and touched the aquila symbol on his chest. The twin headed eagle with one head looking back towards the past and the second one looking forwards to the future. Shozar nodded solemnly and squeezed the trigger of the bolt pistol. The weapon barked with report as it discharged, the bolt flew straight into the man's head and exploded upon impact. Blood burst and spattered the ground in a gory mess.

The other men on the ground were now only emitting final deathly rasps and gurgling sounds. Shozar turned back to the other assault marines in his squad, they were all staring at him. He could see them judging his action yet none of them betrayed any emotions through body language. Then Marthanus gave a nod of approval before he turned away but Brother Pycar was already approaching. "Who discharged their firearm?" he hissed at the assault sergeant.

"I did sir" said Shozar without hesitation. He did not regret his actions, they had already lost the element of surprise through the stormtrooper spasmic volley of fire.

"You endanger us all with your callous disregard" Pycar said angrily to him.

"We have already been revealed to the enemy" Shozar replied hotly, "they have placed this trap for just that purpose" he looked down at the bodies of the dead stormtroopers, "and no servant of the emperor deserves such a fate" he added grimly.

"You would see it become ours" said Pycar venomously before turning and proceeding on through the mist with the other veterans, several of them left their gaze on Shozar for a few moments before turning and walking on.

Shozar could feel his anger boiling at his insides but he kept it contained, it would not help anyone to turn on one another in this situation and Pycar knew about hunting tyranids, even if this was something new. Marthanus put a hand on Shozar's shoulder pad, "no one deserves it, but should we all be so lucky as to not receive it" he said in an understanding voice as they forged on.

They carried on through the mist, always keeping within the enhanced sight of each Blood Angel. The bodies of the stormtroopers had long since faded into the fog behind them. The astartes boots leaving firm imprints on the ground as they pressed on towards the beacon where the valkyries would be. All the Blood Angels were on edge, itching for battle, Shozar could feel it clawing at his insides, the thirst making the back of his throat dry. He gripped his chainsword tightly, his finger twitching towards the trigger of his bolt pistol.

"There!" shouted one of Pycar's veterans loudly firing a string of bolter rounds into the dense yellow veil. Shozar could have sworn he saw a silhouette moving in the mist as the other veterans turned and fired a disciplined volley at whatever it was. He could make out tentacles flailing and a bestial shrieking sound then the silhouette seemed to draw closer, but dipped down towards the ground and disappeared underneath the withering hail of the veterans. The space marines advanced towards where the creature had fallen.

"Here" called Petriarch and all the space marines joined him. It was a gangrel creature a scrawny body bearing a typical tyranid carapace with spines. It had tentacled limbs which appearing to be dripping a slightly green viscous fluid and a cluster of tendril dangling limply from its mouth. The body seemed to be exhaling the same sickly yellow gas that was in fact the fog around them. But then the gases stopped.

"It seems to be the source of this mist" said Marthanus in observation standing beside Pycar who crouched down towards the creature.

Pycar nodded, drawing his combat blade out, "it would appear so, but one creature could not do this, there must be many of them to make a cover of this magnitude" he touched a tentacle with the blade. With a sharp hissing sound he pulled the blade away, part of the blade's edge had begun to melt away. "It would be best to keep these creatures at range" he said turning the blade over in his hand before sheathing it and standing back up, "we move on".

The Blood Angels followed, such was the unquestioning obedience of the adeptus astartes. They would press on in situations where most men would lose faith in the mission, when all seemed irresolute and hopeless, the space marines would continue on. Humanity's chance against the alien and heretic alike they stood against all threats, by the blood of their primarch they would prevail or be granted an honourable death in the process. They trudged on without seeing any other creatures, evidently seeming that they had learned to stay out of range of any bolter fire, or that the enemy were preparing something else.

Then a great and terrible roar sounded, deafening in volume it echoed tones of violent action. The space marines turned towards the sound, weapons ready. Marthanus power sword glowed with an electric blue around the edges casting a green colour onto the mist as it gave off a low humming sound in the background of the growling chainswords. The ground began to shake as if some giant pounding the planet. "By the blood of Sanguinus we stand ready!" cried Marthanus taking a stance. Underneath his helmet Shozar bared his fangs, the teeth of his chainsword whirred gently, his finger twitching in a familiar fashion on the trigger of his bolt pistol.

Through the midst three hulking forms appeared. Charging forwards Shozar recognised their forms, each was a towering battering ram of impenetrable chitin, knotted musculature and unyielding bone. Their skin was as black as night, their armoured shells were a shadowy grey. "Carnifexs!" he shouted. The carnifexs let out another deafening roar and each vomited a huge ball of glowing green incandescent fire at the assault squad. Shozar engaged his jump pack like the other assault marines, a huge burst of fire igniting in his pack and blasting him up into the air. The bio-plasma hit the ground where the assault marines had only moments ago been standing leaving the ground blackened and scorched.

Shozar fired his bolt pistol at the nearest beast, the shoots flew true and hit the creature's carapace but carnifex seemed completely undaunted by the shots. The three of them continued their monstrous charge towards the veteran's squad, each stride striking out like a sonorous drum beat of doom as they built up velocity. The veterans poured bolter fire onto the carnifexs but again the creatures shook of the shots as if nothing had happened. Pycar lobbed a krak grenade into the midst of them. It exploded with a thunderous boom directly underneath one of the carnifexs. This at least stunned the creature, it stopped it's charge and reared up on its huge legs, large scything talons slicing at the empty air above it as it roared. The other two carnifexs however could not be stopped even with the vast quantity of bolter fire of the veterans.. The veterans scattered to avoid being trampled in the impending stampede before ensuing in close fire with the creatures.

The lift from Shozar's take of carried him higher and higher into the air. He soared through the sky and for a brief moment he felt as Sanguinus must have. Flying high above the battlefield through the sky, observing all below him. This was one of the closest bonds that the Blood Angels could share between them and their primarch, the freedom of flight. This was one of the reasons why Blood Angels generally became assault marines before devastators or tactical marines, that and that their untempered fury in close combat was as lethal as any chainsword or close combat weapon.

But then the moment was over and Shozar felt his ascent slowing. The previously stunned carnifex had turned and was preparing to advance on the veterans, taking great ponderous steps as it attempted to build up speed. Shozar angled himself correctly in the sky and ignited his jump pack. With a roar of fire he descended, with incredible speed he sped towards the ground. A feral grin spread across his face, the growling blades of the chainsword sounded muffled in the background, already he could see slightly red tints appearing on the edge of his vision as the thirst drew him in.

He slammed into the beast side on with a sickening crunch. He hit it shoulder first and the carnifex was knocked to the side but remained on its feet. Roaring with pain it swiped at him with monstrous scything talons easily bigger than a space marine, but the attack was slow as if it took a moment for the creature to realise it was fighting. Shozar dodged a side swipe by jumping back and rolled under another attack. Then the carnifex reeled as another blood red shape smashed down on top of it. With a thunderous noise the carnifex tried to through off the new space marine, Shozar could see the glow of Marthanus power sword as the sergeant clung one of the huge spines on its carapace, slashing the blade through the creature's thick armour. It reared up in an attempt to through off the veteran but the sergeant held on.

It was with this distraction that Shozar saw his gap. The carnifex's powerful hind legs raised it up into the air, bolt shots exploded all over as the other assault marines continued to fire. Shozar ignited his pack and propelled himself off the ground. On wings of fire he soared towards the carnifex's gaping maw, stabbing out with his chainsword. The teeth of the weapon snarled as the blade began to bury itself into the beast's head. Purple ichor spattered across Shozar's armour and he could feel resistance as he hit the skull, the teeth screeched against bone but the assault marine bellowed loudly, pushing the blade straight through the hard bone into the creature's brain. It gave one last thunderous roar, rearing up on its hind legs. Shozar wrenched the chainsword out of its head spraying purple blood and brain-matter onto his armour, pushed off of the carnifex and flipped backwards landing on his feet in a crouched position. Marthanus fired his jump pack to launch him off of the beast as it lurched forwards and fell to the ground with a tremendous crash that made the ground shake.

Marthanus landed next to Shozar as he stood up. "Well met" said the sergeant turning his head to Shozar, "rather austintatious with your strike though" he added and Shozar could tell that the sergeant was giving him a wry smile underneath his helmet.

"Well it gets the job done" said Shozar still wearing his feral grin. The red tint around the edges of his vision was growing, the thirst growing more powerful with every second. He was revelling in the bloodshed, it felt liberating. Every Blood Angel spent his every waking hour holding the thirst at bay and it was the assault marines who were the most able to unleash that fury in depths of their close quarters combat.

The barks of bolter fire made them both turn swiftly towards the remaining two carnifexs. From the sky three red streaks punched down from the sky. The other assault marines had engaged. Petriarch had mimicked Shozar's approach slamming his shoulder into the huge carnifex, it seemed to have little effect though as he collided with the armoured shell of the beast as a pose to its side. Aramath slammed down directly on top of the huge creature's head, caving in its skull with the force of the impact. Aranor slammed down just behind the last carnifex bringing his whirring chainsword down onto its tail. Blood spattered from the blade's gnashing teeth found purchase but the carnifex gave a ferocious swing of its tail knocking the assault marine away. Aranor was sent sailing through the pale yellow mist and out of sight.

The veterans continued to pour disciplined rounds of fire onto the remaining carnifex. One lucky round managed to hit the creature's eye. It roared and staggered backwards, swinging it's fearsome scything talons blindly as blood and viscous fluid wept from its eye. Yet this only seemed to further enrage the beast. It lurched forwards plunging one of its four massive talons into the ground and slashing wildly with the others, it's spike covered tail swung menacingly behind it. The veterans formed a perimeter around the carnifex firing their bolters. The carnifex could only snarl while attempting to reach them. Not one veteran had fallen yet. The four remaining assault marines added their fire to the volley but then the carnifex lunged forwards stabbing out with a talon. The brave veteran tried to dodge the blow but the point of the massive talon pierced straight through the hardened ceramite plate of the veteran's armour and down through his shoulder. The space marine let out a shout, gripping the talon with one hand and continuing to fire his bolter with the other one. Marthanus cast Pycar a look. The veteran sergeant was firing his bolter furiously, he nodded to Marthanus. They both knew that this had to be ended soon as neither of them knew the effects that this toxic cloud would have on an open wound.

The assault sergeant primed the melta charges on his belt, the remaining assault marines did likewise. Then all four of them hurled themselves at the carnifex which slipped it's claw quickly out of the veteran's shoulder letting him sink to his knees in order to defend against its new attackers. It swung its tail wildly at Aramath who fired his jump pack in a small burst. He was carried just above the tail and latched onto the carnifex's lower armoured shell. Fire erupted from Shozar's jump pack and he soared over the carnifex's head landing on the arch of its back just past the neck. Petriarch and Marthanus attacked from the two sides, ducking under or jumping over the swipes of scything talons that were known to cut through tank armour. They placed the charges just under the creature's arms before igniting their packs and jumping out of reach, Aramath placed his on the gap in its armoured shell on its lower back before soaring away. The carnifex reared up trying to shake off the space marines and the melta charges. Shozar held onto one of the spines with an iron grip so as not to be thrown off. He put the chainsword back on his belt and pull off the melta charge, it beeped urgently at him as he primed it and placed it on the carnifex's lower neck where there was no armour. The thing jerked its head back, jamming Shozar's arm in the gap with a crunch, he could feel the tension against the ceramite. He tried to pull his arm out with his free hand but it was no use for even and astartes. Pycar fired his bolter rounds directly at the carnifex's head. It moved its head and roared at the veteran. Shozar rolled down it's back struggling to get his bearings he ignited his jump pack. With a burst of fire Shozar propelled himself away from the carnifex but not up, he slammed down into the ground, the hungry flames of his jump pack licked around the melta charge on the carnifex's lower back, igniting it. The charges went off as if a round from orbital bombardment had landed in their midst. Every space marine was knocked off of his feet by the detonation. The carnifex was blown apart reduced to hot ash and nothing by the melta charges in a blazing flash of orange then white light. Shozar was slammed into the ground doubly hard by the explosion, his body bounced off of the ground skidding to a halt.

He could taste a coppery tang in his mouth. He opened his eyes and pushed himself onto one knee looking up. In front of him were two crashed valkyrie transports. Several guardsmen were huddled around the wrecks, their weapons drawn, they started to walk towards him. Shozar frowned, they were alive, there was no gas here. The yellow mist had not encroached upon here. It merely surrounded the perimeter. "My lord" the guardsmen said staring in awe as the weary Blood Angel stood upright, "we were expecting a rescue but we had no idea.."

"How many are you guardsmen?" Shozar asked quickly turning back to the mist.

"Twenty three" said the guardsmen looking past the space marine, "are we going through that my lord? Are we going to them?"

A skittering sound had started, it was growing louder, many feet off of the ground and snarling creatures. It was the sounds of a swarm numbering thousands, even millions. Shozar drew his chainsword, the teeth growled as if the weapon itself was eager to get into the fight, "no guardsmen, they will come to us".


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 5**

"Why didn't you tell me of this!" thundered Corbulo grabbing the Company Commander and pinning him to the wall. The High Sanguinary Priest's noble countenance, so much a reflection of his primarch's now wore an expression of animalistic anger upon it. Yet this was not even his full wrath, it he wanted he could break every bone in Simeon's body, murder him. His rage was seeping out, already the priest was feeling the slightest tints of the thirst such was his anger, an angry red tinge at the far edge of his visions threatening to expand. His gauntleted hands were clenched tightly on the man's uniform as he raised him up and off of his feet.

"I didn't know!" gasped Simeon trying to pry the space marine's hands off of his uniform but the strength of the Adeptus Astartes was like an unbreakable vice, "it's not even in the prototyping stage...just done small formula trials". He could barely breath, it was like two steel pins were holding him to the wall.

"Brother he speaks the truth" said the Chaplain Zekaiel who had returned and was standing in the shadows of the room, "I can detect no hint of a lie or any form of deception upon him". The chaplain's bone coloured skull mask gleamed menacingly in the light, his crozius arcaneum hummed gently in his hand. He placed a hand wrapped in black power armour onto the High Sanguinary Priest's shoulder and said on a slightly more forceful voice, "the emperor's sword does not cut limbs off of its wielder".

Corbulo let out a great exhalation and released the Company Commander. Even he realised that space marines as the emperor's sword could not turn upon the imperium's on citizens, that was the path to chaos, and heresy. He breathed heavily for a moment as the commander re-straightened his uniform and try to maintain the demeanour as though nothing had happened. "Where is it kept?" he growled trying to bite back his temper.

Simonem tapped the servitor on the back and nodded. The man-thing spurted out garbled strings of machine code before saying in a mechanical voice, "prototypes are stored within both manufactorum Primus and Seccundus".

Corbulo could feel his heart racing, his anger replaced now by the thrill of his crusade completed. This was it, the thing he'd been searching the galaxy for, right here within the very imperium itself. "Send a servitor immediately and bring it here" he said quickly almost unable to keep the eagerness out of his voice. Finally the sons of Sanguinus could throw off the dark curse of their flaw that had marred their chapter for so long. No longer would they be looked upon with suspicion and misgivings, they could join the other chapters in the knowledge that they would no longer be plagued by the curse and as Corbulo and only a few others knew, the extinction of their very chapter itself.

Noise. The heavy barks of bolters sounded over a cacophony of alien shrieks and roars. The pointed snaps of lasguns cracked through the air. The whirring revs of the chainswords, screeching ever now and then as the teeth met bone. A circular perimeter of bold, blood red went around the group of guardsmen survivors against a tide of black and grey swarming creatures. The Blood Angels, at the forefront of the fighting, bearing the brunt of the enemy assault.

When Shozar had made contact with the guardsmen from the crashed valkyries they informed him of how they saw the tentacle creatures roaming around the wreckage spreading the yellow mist, but every time they ventured too to the guardsmen the men would open fire and drive them off. The creatures would always stay just out of weapons range, allowing their toxic fog to envelope the area around the wreckage. The guardsmen also discovered that the mist was toxic, with similar circumstances to the stormtroopers that had originally been with the Blood Angels. So they had been forced to maintain a defensive perimeter at the wreckage. But no attack had come. They had not encountered a single tyranid until the Blood Angels had arrived. The malevolence of the hive mind knew that the red armoured warriors on the planet would be its greatest foes so it set the trap and the bait was taken.

The Blood Angel who had been injured by the carnifex perished, not from his wounds, but from the toxic mist. Once his armour had been pierced by the claw of the carnifex the poisonous air had seeped through the gap. It seemed evident that even the remarkably resilient immune system of the adeptus astartes was not totally invulnerable to such toxins.

""_Red Hail_" fire support now!" shouted Pycar on the vox-com channel over the roar of bolter fire. The veterans squad stood atop the wreckage of one of the valkyries, laying down bolter fire from all sides of the perimeter. The rounds scything through huge numbers of the swarm but the tyranids were gaining ground. The veteran sergeant then opened up the vox-com for the channel to manufactorum seccundus, "seccundus. This is Blood Angels veteran Sergeant Pycar requesting immediate extraction via stormravens. Ground routes have been cut off and-" the veteran paused as he smashed the butt of his bolter into a hormogaunt that leapt out of the swarm at him. The tyranid's skull was crushed in at the top by the force of the blow and it's body tumbled back down the valkyrie fuselage. "And the enemy have us surrounded, do you copy seccundus?"

There was a short pause during which only the sounds of the raging battle sounded around the Blood Angels and the guardsmen. Then the transmission came back through marred by the customary static, "this seccundus, request acknowledged. Stormravens are en-route to your position, hold fast Blood Angels".

Streaks of las-fire crackled past Shozar as the guardsmen took careful shots around their crimson protectors to try and help thin the swarm. It would not matter if they were hit though, the ornate power armour would be able to withstand small misses from lasguns. He brought his chainsword down in a wide arc slashing aside a scything hormogaunt, decapitating the creature. His armour was spattered with purple ichor, as was that of the other assault marines. He snapped off three shots with his bolt pistol, each one staying true and hitting a gaunt with explosive report. Claws raked his huge shoulder pad with a sound of bone on metal and Shozar lashed out with an armoured boot catching another hormogaunt in the chest and crushing it's rib cage.

The assault marines fought fiercely in their attempts to keep the swarm away from the guardsmen but they were being forced back. Marthanus power sword was silver and blue blur as he slashed through gaunts with increasing ferocity. "We slaughter droves of these creatures" Petriarch said clearly growing frustrated with their progress, "do they not possess other creatures?"

"Be careful what you wish for brother" managed Shozar as he cut a hormogaunt in half with his chainsword. Purple gore spattered his already covered. The thirst was more powerful than ever here, with every enemy he cut down, three more took its place. Like a great serpent of mythology the swarm seemed to merely re-grow and attack once more.

"More!" bellowed Aranor who had dispensed with the bolt pistol all together and was striking the Tyranids with incredible speed using his chainsword and free fist. He attacked like a man possessed cleaving two gaunts with a brutal swipe of his chainsword. He let out a mad bellow and continued his assault, "bring me more!" he roared into the swarm.

"He is taken" said Aramath in a quiet voice over the vox-com. Shozar nodded. The red thirst had claimed Aranor, manifesting now in the form of the black rage. It was a grave thing, to see a noble battle-brother reduced to a blood hungry monster of a space marine. Some even claimed that this was the early signs of the chapter's descent into chaos. These accusations drive each and every Blood Angel to fight to ferocious lengths to truly prove the worth of their chapter.

Shozar looked concernedly across at the assault sergeant. Marthanus had been extremely quiet since this latest swarm had begun their attack. It was said that Blood Angels were most vulnerable to the thirst and rage in times of great stress. So it was here the Blood Angels stood. A thin line of red against impossible numbers.

"Grenades!" came a shout. Shozar triggered his jump pack as did Petriarch, Aramath and to Shozar's relief, Marthanus. Aranor however continued to slash manically through the swarm, completely consumed by his rage unaware of anything else. The grenades went off like a thunder clap over the roar of the assault squad's jump packs. The guardsmen and veterans had thrown grenades all around the group to try and clear a bit of breathing room. Shozar saw Aranor, soar into the air on contrails of fire, his armour blackened and scorched by the grenade blast yet still he thought. The power of the Black Rage fuelling his body to a near invulnerable state, being able to withstand much greater wounds than even a normal Adeptus Astartes could. The crazed Blood Angel let out a roar before igniting his jump pack and crashing down straight in the midst of the swarm.

Shozar emptied his entire clip from his bolt pistol with a barking report as he soared high into the air. The guardsmen fire a volley of las-fire into the swarm, the crackling beams scoring several targets through the dense smoke from the grenades. But there was no stopping the swarm, they continued to press in an unending tide towards the site of the crash Valkyries, though some were preoccupied by Aranor's blood frenzy driven by the black rage. As the tide pressed on Shozar uttered a war cry before igniting his pack, the roaring flames erupted from his pack and he descended towards the ground rapidly. He smashed into the ground in the midst of several tyranids just in front of the guardsmen. The shock of his impact knocked the tyranids back and created a small crater where he landed. The guardsmen unleashed a volley of las-fire as three more red meteors shot down from the sky on wings of fire.

The hive mind is not easily deterred from its target, once it sets it sights upon its choice it will direct the entire insatiable hunger and inexorable advance towards absorbing it. It brings forth new creatures, each one deadlier than the last. Shozar ducked underneath the rending talons of a genestealer. The beast let out a snarl that sound even over the growl of his chainsword. It lunged for him, spreading it's four claw limbs wide and slashing ferociously with them. Shozar activated his pack allowing him a slight burst of flame allowing him to dodge this new attack. He lunged forwards with his chainsword, the snarling teeth cut straight through one of the creature's arms. Purple ichor spattered from the wound, dripping lazily onto the ground from the stump. But the genestealer did not stop, it did not even appear to realise it had been wounded. It slashed outwards with its three remaining limbs and Shozar turned his shoulder towards it, allowing the massive plate of the shoulder guard to absorb the blow he would never have been able to dodge.

Genestealers are tyranid creatures feared throughout the galaxy. They are created by the hive purely for close quarters engagements and have an formed an infamous reputation through it. The claws raked across Shozar's shoulder pad gouging huge chunks of ceramite out of it. Shozar felt a momentary spike of pain as he felt the very tips of the claws go through the plate and rake his flesh. He grimaced and lashed out with his chainsword, his power armour already feeding him a stream of painkillers and adrenaline, while his augmented physique already set to work so that the wound would scab over quickly. His chainsword caught the genestealer in the abdomen, the razor teeth finding purchase in the weak flesh of the belly, purple ichor spraying as the teeth whirred through flesh and bone. But before he could cut the creature in half he was bowled over. A roar sounded overhead and he rolled sideways across the ground just in time to dodge a pair of scything talons dig into the ground, ripping up the earth. In a single fluid motion he got back to his feet and faced his new attacker.

Black hungry eyes stared back at him from the broodlord that stood before him. The leader of genestealers, an altogether more deadly adversary. Taut muscle flowed through every limb, the broodlord stood just a little taller than even a space marine. Great rending claws curved from its hands as well as a pair of scything talons that were folded close to its chest. It let out a roar and spread its arms in a challenging fashion. Shozar holstered his bolt pistol and held his chainsword in a two handed grip. Around them the battle raged on, though the sounds of bolter fire sounded dim in Shozar's ears. He charged at his opponent but already the broodlord was too fast, the surprisingly lithe movements of the creature were strange for something of this size. The broodlord lashed out with its claws and Shozar only just managed to raise the chainsword to block the creature's fierce attack. It batted the Blood Angel's weapon aside and struck forwards with the scything talons that folded out from its chest. They raked across his chest plate but Shozar just dodged back enough so that the sharp appendages merely chipped the proud ceramite. He swiped his chainsword across in a wide arc and managed to land a strike on the tyranid. The chainsword's snarling teeth bit down into the broodlord's shoulder spraying purple vitae. The broodlord let out a roar and buffeted Shozar back with animalistic strength that even an adeptus astartes could not hold out against. His grip on the chainsword slipped and he was thrown back towards the ranks of the imperial guardsmen.

Up on the top on the valkyrie wreckage the veterans were now trading fire at close range, but now they had to dodge incoming fire from new enemies. Spore mines soared through the air from biovores bombarding the veterans so that they could not focus fire upon targets and constantly had to relocate. Within moments they had drawn out their combat blades and were engaged in bloody close quarters fighting. The guardsmen still in the middle attempted to assist them but their shots merely halted the swarming wave of tyranids from spilling over onto their own ranks. The assault marines to the other flank continued to hack and slash through the swarm. Aranor had long since disappeared into the swarm. Huge gargantuan shapes moved through the clearing yellow mist. The unmistakeable forms of hierophants and hierodules stalked through the fog, unleashing fearsome volley's of fire upon the imperial forces.

Shozar's chainsword fell to the ground with a muffled thud from the large gouge in the broodlord's shoulder. It snarled as Shozar picked himself up off of the ground and drew out his pistol, revealing a maw filled with point teeth. Slapping in a fresh sickle magazine Shozar took aim at the broodlord, blood pounding in his ears. Only through sheer force of will were the Blood Angels holding back their gene curse through all this, but their strength was waning. The broodlord seem uninterested now in engaging the space marine in fair close combat now as a swarm of genestealers suddenly pressed past it and rushed towards him, brandishing their clawed limbs and snarling maws. Shozar emptied the clip of his bolt pistol but it wasn't enough to stem the tide, though his rounds flew straight and true.

They closed the distance swiftly and Shozar raised his gauntlets in defence and muttered a litany under his breath, preparing for the inevitable end. Just as he was prepared to pass from this place though a tremendous roaring filled his ears. Heavy bolter fire cut down the genestealers in front of his, scything through their ranks and thinning the swarm in ways that no regular bolter could. He turned and saw the "_Red Hail_" her twin linked heavy bolters barked death upon any tyranids not quick enough to move aside from the blasts. Enemies disappearing into a fine purple mist through the fire, it cut back the wave from the top of the valkyrie, giving the veterans room to ready their bolters. Several of them however threw down their weapons, howling battle cries and lunging into the fray with only their combat blades, succumbing to the rage and thirst.

"Hail you are a blessed sight" Shozar heard Marthanus growl over the vox-com. A bolter clattered to the ground next to him and he scooped it up quickly, clearly dropped by one of the blood maddened veterans. Judging by the weight it had a full magazine, and he fired careful controlled bursts from the sacred weapon, the barking rounds cut down more tyranids that threatened to overwhelm them.

"We brought reinforcements" the pilot of the razorback replied over the noise of the carnage.

A huge shockwave hit the area. The ground itself shook as the massive warhoud titan emerged out of the mist, crushing hundreds of tyranids under its colossal feet. The "_Blazing Fury_" emerged, it's massive vulkan bolter roared spitting hundreds of rounds onto the swarm while a huge plasma blastgun blew huge swathes out of the enemy, hot plasma vaporizing the swarm into hot slag. Around it two stormravens soared overhead accompanied by several imperial guard valkyries, their jet engines screamed as they sped through the sky. The "_Fury of Baal's_" assault cannons bellowed pouring furious torrents of fire upon the tyranids, her hurricane bolters mounted across the fuselage barked as the craft poured fire on the swarm. Hunter killer missiles streaked from both craft exploding upon impact with thunderous booms. Bright spears of lascannon fire lanced from the "_Sanguine Spear_" hitting larger creatures and scoring several targets, reducing them to burnt cinders, it's multi melta's mounted at the prow of the craft disintegrated larger creatures, all the while, it's hurricane bolters added to the cacophony of thunderous noise.

As the Angel's of death reinforcements arrived, their crafts blew the fog away on rushing air currents created by the swooping skyward ships. From the mists came the creatures to rival the titans. A huge hierophant stalked forwards letting out a deafening roar that drowned out all other noise. "Bio-titan!" bellowed Pycar in an effort to direct his men over the noise. A valkyrie swooped down and landed in the newly cleared area by the "_Red Hail_". The doors slid swiftly open allowing the imperial guardsmen to embark. Shozar slashed furiously with renewed vigour given by the sight of Blood Angel reinforcements. The thirst clawed at him and he accepted it. The enemy were reeling from this sudden strike, now was not the time for restraint, it was the time for a bloody offensive. He embraced the thirst and the red tinge spread across his vision, flooding his limbs with new strength. A warrior charged at him uttering a roar, but the sound was drowned out by the surrounding battle noises. Shozar engaged his jump enough to give him a sudden burst of momentum towards the creature. It lashed out with four scything talons at him, they scratched across his armour by the ornate ceramite held fast this time. He hit the warrior shoulder first, the force of the impact sent it back onto the ground. The Blood Angel emptied the clip of the bolter into it and dropped the weapon, drawing out his pistol. He stepped back firing rounds from the bolt pistol. A hormogaunt lunged forwards at him and he slammed the armoured fist of his gauntlet into its head, feeling it's skull cave in under his hand.

Overhead the massive warhound titan "_Blazing Fury_" turned with a few steps of its colossal feet to face approaching bio-titan. More of the creatures as well as the smaller hierodules could be seen approaching as well. It fired its two bio cannons at the warhound titan which attempted to turn away from the oncoming shots. The first went wide but the second shot impacted of the titan's shoulder. White vapour issued from the shot as the corrosive maggot-like organisms melted their way through some of the warhound's armour plating. "_Blazing Fury_" turned to face the titan, trampling hundreds of lesser creatures underfoot it's weapons bristled as they fired. The vulkan bolter poured torrents of furious fire onto the hierophant, scores of rounds finding their marks as fat globules of purple blood spattered onto the swarm below. Other shells merely rebounded off of its armour, ricocheting away with a ringing sound. The massive plasma blast-gun hummed ominous as it charged before firing it's lethal payload. The bright blue ball of energy soared overhead striking the bio-titan just at the neck, blasting away part of its roaring maw and neck. The carcass let out a gargling strangled sound before with a thunderous crash, it fell to the ground and crushed hundreds more tyranids underneath it's monstrous cadaver. With its first foe defeated, the "_Blazing Fury_" turned towards the other gargantuan monstrosities that lumbered across the battlefield towards it with equal ferocity.

The valkyrie with the guardsmen began to take off, it's engines howled as the craft hovered for a moment, then with a final roar from its engines it soared off past the warhound titan, bound for manufactorum seccundus. Shozar smashed the butt of his bolt pistol into the skull of another genestealer that attempted to cut him to ribbons. Valkyries above attempted to give air support to the space marines as the two stormravens touched down. He turned as the air whirled around him, caused by the crafts landing. A tyranid with a bulbous head was floating towards them, it seemed to be hovering on shimmering air beneath it, parts of its massive cranium could be seen above its scrawny body. The creature let out a terrible ear-splitting scream which seemed to cut across all other noise. "Zoanthrope!" Shozar managed to shouted just as the scream started but it silenced him. The Blood Angels who had fought their gene curse, the black rage suddenly faltered. As if the psychic scream of the zoanthrope was summoning the black rage out of them with its powers of the warp. The rage threatened to overwhelm Shozar but he fought the urge down with every ounce of his will. He was so preoccupied that he did not see the warrior prime charging towards him. It bowled him over and stood on top of him, raising its scything talons to strike the killing blow.

Then there was the flash of a power sword, a spatter of ichor and a red blur smashed the warrior off of him. Marthanus, stood by him, "Dorn guard the breach" he bellowed to Shozar as the Blood Angel forced himself to his feet, "the traitors seek to overrun us". _That was it_, thought Shozar. Marthanus, his mentor, his friend, veteran of two centuries of combat had finally been claimed by the black rage. He was now envisioning himself as the primarch Sanguinus during the primogenitor's final battle onboard the arch-traitor Horus' ship. He could not believe that his mentor was gone. But as the sergeant hacked and slashed like a frenzied man, the grim reality overtook him.

"I shall not let them pass" Shozar said solemnly to his comrade in arms. A fresh wave of genestealers charged at them and Marthanus ran head on at them, bellowing a war cry at the top of his lungs. The ramps of the stormravens yawned open, "Blood Angels, we go, now!" he called to his remaining assault marines. Pycar too was rallying his struggling veterans as they fought against the grips of the rage also. The assault marines retreated towards their stormraven, the vehicles weapons discharging tremendous volley's of fire to hold the swarm back from the Blood angels. He could still see Marthanus, carving a bloody path through swathes of tyranids, a seemingly unstoppable force ignoring nearly every wound inflicted upon him. The Zoanthrope reared back and fired a green lance of psychic energy at the "_Red Hail_". The shot rocked the razorback up onto its side and ruptured the main fuel line, the transport let off a bellowing explosion as the fuel ignited, orange and crimson flames wreathed the wreckage of the vehicle. Already the warhound titan, "_Blazing Fury_" was backing up from the advancing gargantuan creatures, still crushing great chunks of the enemy's forces with its massive feet. The ramp of the stormraven started to fold up towards the vehicle with a whirring of gyros and the assault marines were engulfed in darkness.


End file.
